Ester Hakaala
Foot-and-Mouth Disease restrictions have disrupted business for kapana vendors in Windhoek’s Single Quarters area, with traders and households that depend on the informal meat trade facing mounting economic pressure.
The issue was raised in the National Assembly after a member of Parliament, Willem Amutenya, on Thursday reported finding meat markets empty during a visit to the area.
Amutenya said the restrictions had affected not only kapana vendors but also the wider network of small businesses and households that rely on the meat trade for their livelihoods.
He called on the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Land Reform to consider arrangements allowing animals to be slaughtered under veterinary supervision, particularly in the Khomas region, while also exploring ways to support affected businesses.
Responding to the concerns, the agriculture minister Inge Zaamwani acknowledged the economic consequences of the restrictions but maintained that containing the disease remained the ministry’s immediate priority.
The minister said the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak was announced on 23 September, meaning the restrictions had been in place for almost a month at the time of the parliamentary discussion.
The ministry’s objective, the minister said, is to prevent the disease from spreading beyond the district where the first case was detected.
According to the minister, the infection remained confined to that district at the time of the parliamentary session.
Measures introduced to contain the outbreak included vaccination, the installation of a containment fence and continued sampling of farms within a 100-kilometre radius of the farm where the first case was detected.
The minister said some trading restrictions had already been relaxed, allowing movement through specified stages of the livestock marketing chain. The next phase under consideration would allow cattle kept on farms outside feedlots to be slaughtered under veterinary supervision.
However, the minister acknowledged that the restrictions have serious implications for livelihoods, particularly for small traders and farmers.
She noted that the government is consulting stakeholders and examining possible interventions to assist those affected, the minister said, adding that the response would require a coordinated national effort. –ehakaala@nepc.com.na
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